Dr. Charles Timberlake passed away Friday, March 21, 2008. Dr. Timberlake is survived by his wife, Patricia, former director of the Journalism Library. The memorial service will be held Tuesday, May 13, at 4:00 pm, at the Missouri United Methodist Church, 201 South 9th Street. Professor Timberlake’s obituary can be read here.
A staff publication of the MU Libraries.
General Announcement
Security Announcement
In the past several months, there has been an increase in the number of unaffiliated users coming to Ellis Library, monopolizing computers and loitering in the large study rooms. As a result, we will be maintaining our usual complement of student security officers, including staffing the North Security desk, rather than reducing their number over the summer.
Although budgets are tight, I feel this additional expense is necessary to ensure that our security level does not diminish over at a time when increased incidents of violence are occurring at campuses around the country. In recent months, Ellis security has had to respond to several serious incidents, including thefts and patrons displaying knives in the building. Ellis Security is taking steps to help make the libraries safer, and we all need to assist Security by immediately reporting any unusual incidents, whether in Ellis or in branch library locations.
This is also a good time for me to request that all staff members update their contact information for MU Alert, the campus emergency mass notification system. In the event of a campus emergency affecting the health and safety of students and employees, the University will immediately activate an emergency mass notification system. This can only be accomplished if all members of the MU community provide up-to-date contact information. I urge everyone to update cell phone and/or text messaging contact information by visiting the following website. It will only take a moment to help keep everyone on campus safe:
Jim Cogswell
Exercise and the Brain, May 12
When: May 12, 10 a.m.-11 a.m.
Where: Heinkel Building, Room 216
Why: To learn about Preventive Effects; Physiological Benefits; Exercise and Psychological Well-Being; Age and Physical Activity; Exercise and Alzheimer’s Disease;
Practical Recommendations
Presenter: Dr. Kelly Lora Franklin
MU Libraries Top Ten Accomplishments of 2007-2008
10. Digitization projects completed: In collaboration with the UM/LSO, the SCARaB Division completed three major digitization projects through LSTA grants administered through the MO State Library. The first project included publications of the University Agricultural Experiment Station from 1888 thru 2005. The second involved MO city and town maps from 1880 to 1922 prepared by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. The Sanborn maps in particular have proven quite popular with users accessing the UM Digital Library. The third project has created a massive archive of the MU Alumni Association publication which started in 1905. The publication, now known as MIZZOU magazine is published quarterly.
9. Also in the digital realm, the University Archives began harvesting the content of MU/UM institutional websites every six months through a nearly comprehensive “web crawl.” The latest harvest collected about 90 gigabytes of data, which is now stored on the LSO servers.
8. Our Adopt-a-Book program, begun last year, has expanded to include an interactive website. “Before and After” images of rare books needing conservation/restoration have resulted in over $11,000 in donations from individual benefactors. The Kemper preservation grant matches each gift, dollar-for-dollar. As of March, the total of gifts and matching funds stood at $22,280. We have received many favorable comments about both the program and the website.
7. Technical Services and User Services divisions collaborated to relocate books “shelved” on floor in Ellis stack levels. Nine-hundred and ninety-seven books were returned to stack locations or to storage in the UMLD-2 underground storage facility.
6. In summer, new logon authentication software was installed on all the i-Mac computers in the Ellis Information Commons to control access by guest users. The software limits guest users to a maximum of two hours online in order to provide priority service to MU students whose technology fees pay for the computers.
5. We all know that we have excellent staff in the MU Libraries. This past year, the national library community recognized two of our own among the very best in the country. Wayne Sanders, Head of the Monograph Cataloging Unit in Ellis, was selected as one of 120 young professionals for the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2008 Emerging Leaders Program. Karen Darling, Head of Library Acquisitions, was named the winner of the 2008 Leadership in Library Acquisitions Award, by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services of ALA.
4. The Ellis Library Chamber Music Series was begun in Fall, 2007. Live performances by MU students and faculty have included: Con Brio String Quartet; Margaret Waddell performing Hildegard von Bingham chants from the 12th Century; Missouri Woodwind Quintet; and MU Steel Drum Band. We even had the MU Trombone Choir playing in Ellis Colonnade. MU now holds the North American record for the number of trombones playing simultaneously in a library!
3. New online library resources have been made available to Alumni. In April, the Mizzou Alumni Association and the MU Libraries announce the availability of two online resources – EBSCO Academic Search Alumni Edition and Business Source Alumni Edition. Some 2,800 journal titles, many with full-text access to articles, are now available to MAA members.
2. We have instituted Merlin online catalog enhancements to provide better user service: including single sign-on, using Pawprint ID for all user access; “personal reading history” capability; unmediated user access to ILL requests for users at all MU Libraries locations (formerly available at HSL, but not at Ellis or branches), and migration to the ILLiad system to unify ILL access.
And the Number One achievement of the past year is…:
1. MU Libraries Capital Campaign. For the past several years, the MU Libraries have been engaged in its first major fundraising effort by the Libraries, as part of the University’s “For All We Call Mizzou” campaign. At the start of the campaign, the Libraries’ goal was set at $8 million, far larger than any past fundraising goal of the Libraries. I’m sure some people did not think we could raise that much money, but as of the end of March, the Libraries have surpassed that goal. We have now received gifts and pledges totaling $8,014,742. That is truly a remarkable achievement, and all MU Libraries employees can take pride in helping to accomplish it. That is truly something to celebrate!
Jim Cogswell, Director of Libraries
In Memoriam, Troy Gordon
Troy Gordon, a former employee of the MU Libraries, passed away on April 25. He worked in the Cataloging Department and in Special Collections. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/May/20080501Obit005.asp
Celebration of Service 2008
Check out Student Corner for a post about the Celebration of Service.
June DeWeese Honor Tapped at This Year’s Tap Day
Tap Day recognizes the exemplary performance of students in academic and non-academic arenas. Students are selected based on their academic, leadership and service achievements. Each honorary also “honor taps” faculty and/or staff members whom they feel have significantly contributed to the experience of students at MU.
On Friday, April 18, June DeWeese was tapped into LSV, a secret honorary dedicated to promoting and improving the status of women. LSV is the only organization of its kind on any college campus.
To see video of Tap Day, visit
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/2008/04/18/v-mus-81st-annual-tap-day/player/
June is the last hooded person in a deep purple robe.
Library Representative Assembly Proposal
The MU Librarians and Archivists Council and Director Jim Cogswell charged a committee in October to look at designing a group to serve some of the same functions as the past Library Council. The committee has produced a draft plan for a new group, tentatively called the Library Representative Assembly, that would address the communication function of Library Council. The proposed assembly would have a monthly meeting for representatives elected from their departments to share reports and ideas and hear news from the Director. Each meeting would provide time for a question and answer session, and at various times library committees would also be asked to give reports. Elected representatives would be expected to go back and share information from the meetings with their departments. Please come to either one of the planned sessions, to be offered May 7 at 11 am and May 8 at 2 pm, both in 4F51A, and share your response and reactions to the proposal, which will be distributed before the meeting and available on the library web site. After collecting comments and taking time for revision, the committee will send the proposal back to the Librarians and Archivists Council and the Director for further action.
Ann Campion, Assistant Director of Technical Services
Celebration of Service, April 22
All MU Libraries employees, student employees and retirees are invited to the Annual Celebration of Service reception, Tuesday, April 22nd, from 2:00-3:30 p.m.
The event will take place in the Mark Twain Ballroom at Memorial Union (second floor). The program will begin at 2:30 and last until 3:10 or so….
Along with recognition of service anniversaries, remarks from the Director of Libraries, Jim Cogswell, and wonderful refreshments, we will also have as our speaker, UM System Executive Vice President Gordon Lamb.
Kudos to Deb Ward
Deb Ward recently received congratulations for her work as she stepped down from her role as Vice President for Information Resources in the Family Physicians Inquiries Network Consortium. (www.fpin.org) As of April 2, 2008, her role will change to that of FPIN Librarian Community Advisor. Deb received letters and notes from several chairs of family medicine departments across the nation praising her for her role in establishing the consortium in 2000, and in particular, creating and building the FPIN Librarian Community of the consortium.
We are pleased to note Deb’s many accomplishments in building FPIN, a national network of family practice physicians and librarians committed to gathering and summarizing research to address the most important questions encountered by doctors in their daily practice. Deb’s level of professionalism and leadership among our librarians is an example of the achievement we strive for as the state flag-ship institution.
Most of Deb’s FPIN work was done in addition her already heavy work load, which meant that she worked far more than a typical work week. Deb is hoping to have more personal time as a result of stepping down from her Vice President role in FPIN. Please join me in congratulating her on her accomplishments.
Jim Cogswell